Feet First, Helljumper
by GhostlyBritish
Summary: A young ODST begins to learn just how much a man can lose at war. Reviews welcome.
1. Chapter 1

When the Human-Covenant war officially ended, many ODSTs joined the SPARTAN-IV program. Some advanced to a more elite ODST unit.

Such was not the case for Lt Colin "Spectre" Montgomery, though. Born in Cambridge, England, on Earth, Speck (as his friends knew him) was a young ODST, attached to the 105th Marine Expeditionary Unit[SOC]/ODST, 7th Shock Troops, and at 23 one of the youngest to ever be in the unit.

That was not going to be helpful today. Experienced Helljumpers would have been better suited to the job.

The picture was bleak. Ground shaking, earth moving like water and buildings toppling. This had been a city on his native Earth, once. San Francisco. Speck had no clue what was about to unfold, but what he did know was that this was a 10.3 magnitude earthquake.

Why, you ask?

A Guardian had just flown into orbit (for reasons the young Brit was not aware of), sending an orbital MAC station haywire. The station had fired 3 rounds dead center of the San Andreas fault, causing an enormous seismic wave.

Alongside a squad of Marines and Spartans, the young ODST was deploying to rescue a frightened and trapped populace. Boots hit the floor.

The marines, ODSTs, and Spartans that had been on board the Pelican spread out.

Speck grabbed ahold of a young man's arm, just as the youth had begun to plummet down a widening fissure. Tugging the civvie's hand, he hoisted him into the arms of a medic. A Spartan, likely a IV, cried out. That couldn't be good, the young ODST thought grimly.

"Over here, we got a bus full of people!"

"Oh.. shit. Help me with these cables, we'll airlift them out."

The two set to work in seconds. With secure cables, a police Pelican had lifted the bus away, likely to the frigate as she lay in orbit ready to treat the wounded.

A sudden rumble shook the ground, and the ground split next to unknown Spartan tackled him out of the way, taking the full brunt of the heavy blow.

A rebar went straight through her, like a horseman's lance. And all Speck could do was watch, hopeless as she went limp.

Today was going shit.


	2. Chapter 2

Speck stood speechless. The Spartan's body slumped, but she seemed to be beckoning him over, oddly.

"Helljumper... Promise me... you'll save every one of these people."

Speck was at a loss for words. Then, finally growing some bollocks, he spoke up.

"I-I'll try, ma'am. "

"Good... Us Spartans might not always see eye to eye with you 'jumpers, but.. I see you being a good man. What's your name, Lieutenant?"

"Colin. Colin Montgomery. Codename "Spectre"."

"Speck, then... Listen. If you see any Covies around here... Burn the bastards, you hear me?"

"Aye, ma'am. I'll do my best."

She slumped, any life she had once had gone. Her dogtags dropped into his hands, stained with her blood and grime from the collapsing buildings. He read the name, wondering if he had known her behind that visor.

Piper. Piper Monroe. He knew that name, knew her husband. Oh, fuck, was all Speck could muster as he turned them over in his hands. Sgt. Monroe would be pissed. He stood up, and began speedwalking, hoping he could grant the dying wishes of a veteran.

He wouldn't be left waiting for that, the world decided.

A young woman and her kid were taking shelter, behind a nearby barricade. Speck noticed a small abnormality.

3 sodding great Skirmishers (T'voans if you wanted to be specific and live by that bloody book) were walking towards the helpless pair, jaws oveflowing with saliva. They clearly intended to do some diabolical thing (with Skirmishers it was never clear what, honestly), and Speck had no intent of letting either happen to the stranded family.

Another mighty quake ripped opened the ground and slammed it like a giant vice. 2 of the Skirmishers had the luck of getting juiced, purple blood flying up and covering the area.

Speck took note of that.

And as the last of the feathered bastards turned and angrily screeched, he raised his MA5 and blew it's head clean off it's ugly shoulders. Making sure he'd hit it, he sprinted over to the family.

"Miss, are you hurt? Is your daughter alright?"

"You took your time, boy. But yes, we're fine. Where's our way out?"

"Ugh... the bloody Pelican's that way, miss. Try to keep away from the Skirmishers next time-"

He was cut off by the guttural roar of a Brute (A mercenary, most likely) that made an action hero sound weak. As it loomed over, he pulled the shotgun he'd been issued from his back and point blank landed a shell directly in the face of the heavy-set Covenant soldier.

The result was not pretty. A second of the rugged, bestial Covie species jumped a broken bollard and charged for him , crashing into the ODST and landing him flat on his back. The Brute spoke up, sounding pissed and delighted all at once.

"Heh. An honoured warrior. One who kills us Jiralhanae with ease... You bring great honour to me if I slay you!"

Speck grimaced. This was not quite as he had intended to go out.

"Our name for you bastards is different."

"And what is this name, before I make worm's meat of your hide?"

"The nice version is Brutes. The more horrible version is, as they say, Servus Ferox."

"What?"

"Wild slave."

The Brute hit him hard in the stomach, causing him to audibly wheeze and cough. As his foe chuckled, he raised the blades of a Spiker, high above his head.

"Hey, asshole!"

That voice was different. German accent, female. And accompanied by a hailstorm of bullets, which made mincemeat of the Brute that stood before him.

"Hey, you! On your feet!"

He felt an arm like that of the Brute's pull him up, and as he did he realised the Brute had knocked his helmet off. It lay mostly undamaged about a foot away.

The German (he realised she was the big one who pulled him up) spoke again.

"Damn. You're a handsome one, _schatzchen_!"

She took off her helmet as well, and herself was quite nice to look at. Light brown hair, hazel eyes, a lovely smile, and seemingly as old as him-

We're in a warzone, Speck, he thought to himself. Chat up the pretty Spartan with the machinegun later.

They both put their helmets back on, and Speck was relieved to see his helmet was completely undamaged, a bit of grime the only thing that had occured.

The German spoke again.

"I do hope I see you again, _gut aussehend_."

"Likewise, ma'am."

"British, too? You're quite the package... See you!"

With that she was off, to a Pelican landing nearby. Speck ran to his squad's evac, as it seemed the city was now crumbling in on itself and was thus making rescue efforts too difficult.

It took off without him. Bollocks. He was in deep shit now-

"Hey, schatzchen! Over here, you can hitch a ride with us!"

He bolted, his lightweight gear not impeding him in the slightest. He was on board, and now realised he was among a group of Spartan-IVs. The pretty one from before motioned him to sit down, and as he did he noted they were all staring intently at him.

"Find yourself a pet ODST, Monika?"

"Shut up, shithead. He's not that bad, he took on 2 Brutes alone."

"Heh. Perhaps you Helljumpers aren't as bad as those II's told us. My name's Jesse Montoya, Spartan and very proud Texan. What's yours, 'jumper?"

"Colin Montgomery. "Spectre". Most people call me Speck, though."

"Where you from? I know that's a British accent, but you could be from any colony-"

"Earth. Cambridge, England, sir."

Monika, as he now knew her, put an arm around his shoulders.

"Speck? Cute name, I think~"

"You'll have to watch out for her, bud" Jesse grinned.

"Why?"

"Monika does seem to like you Brits."

Oh boy, Speck thought. Long ride ahead, it seemed.


	3. Chapter 3

The Pelican touched down on the ship's landing decks, and the Spartans piled out. As Speck walked over to his platoon, he felt a hand rest on his shoulder.

"Lieutenant Colin Montgomery. Codename "Spectre". Although you seem to prefer Speck? ODST now, eh? I remember when your father first showed me pictures of you."

Speck turned and found himself looking into the eyes of UNSC Fleet Admiral Harper. A legendary leader, he had commanded the UNSC Navy under Hood, during the defense of Earth. The man had known Speck's father and mother, who were currently enjoying a life on Europa. Speck saluted and stood to attention quickly.

"Sir. Sorry I'm late, I had to hitch a ride-"

"It's fine. I've been wanting to talk to you anyway, Speck. The higher-ups want you in a spec-ops team after your work was observed today."

Speck was confused to say the least.

"Me, sir? But... I'm just a Helljumper."

"After today, I'd be tempted to say you're Spartan material. Taking on a T'voan alone, and 2 Brutes? You're cut out for better than you think, my boy."

"Permission to speak, sir?"

"Granted."

"All my friends are in the 7th Shock Troops, sir. I can't leave them. Not after all I've been with them through."

The older man chuckled, before speaking up once more.

"We're not pulling you from the 7th. You're one of their most capable men, and a great field asset. We're trialling a small fireteam, codenamed Scorpio. The Spartans you helped will be the majority, but you, another ODST, and 2 marines will be deployed with them."

Speck gulped before deciding to ask the old commander another burning question.

"Sir... can I know who the other non-Spartans are?"

"Of course. You and 2nd Lieutenant Amelia "Artemis" Beaux are being deployed from the ODSTs. You two seemed to be very cohesive as a pair, and she seems very fond of you. Also being deployed are Maria Degrossi from the UNSC Army and Michael Rorke from the Marines."

Speck smiled. He knew Artemis, she was a French-Canadian ODST and a brilliant comms expert. She wore armor of the Recon ODST type (think Dare's armor from Halo 3: ODST). Speck wondered how she was doing.

Artemis sat on her bed, looking at a screen that was projecting the devastation of the city. She was fairly scared, several good friends had been deployed down to San Francisco for evac roles and to top it off the Covies had been involved in some role.

But most importantly, she was worried about Speck. She made her affections for him obvious around the other troopers, but Speck himself was either oblivious or far too shy to voice an opinion.

She liked to assume it was the latter.

She wasn't too sure what it was about him, to be perfectly honest. His pale skin, green eyes and black hair seemed to be hypnotic to her (and when he wasn't listening, the other soldiers tended to tease her immensely about him).

She sat there still, absent mindedly playing with her reddish brown hair and at points almost tearing a bit out. She was therefore ecstatic when Speck trudged through the door, in the t-shirt and cargo pants that the majority of ODSTs wore off-duty.

"Colin! You're safe! With all that destruction I thought..."

"I'm fine, Amelia."

"No, you weren't! You got blindsided by a Brute, we watched your helmet cam!...By the way, who were you making eyes at?"

"Oh, her? S-she saved me from the Brute. Her name's Monika, I think."

Amelia mumbled a small curse under her breath.

"Competition from a Spartan... He's mine, I swear..."

"You say something, Art?"

"No, no, Speck. Just singing along to a tune~"

Speck muttered a small, shy sorry before walking into the bathroom, turning on the shower.

Artemis smirked to herself, before laying down again and setting off to sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Today was the day the new fireteam met each other.

Fireteam Scorpio had about 7 members. The Spartans included Sgt Monika Streiss, Captain Jesse Montoya, and an older man of Navajo descent, who simply went by the name of Joseph. No-one knew much about him, honestly. Made sense. He never spoke to anyone.

Then there were the Marine and the Army medic.

Rorke was a South African, formerly a mercenary and as ruthless to a point. He seemed nice enough today, however. Degrossi was an Italian girl, fresh from training and selected due to her capabilities as a field medic.

Speck walked down the narrow corridor in his full gear, helmet under one arm. Artemis walked beside him in her armor, her helmet also under her arm, and soon enough tried to strike up a conversation.

"Y'know, we never did find a way to shorten my codename."

"We didn't? Oh, bloody hell, erm... What about Artie?"

"Speck, I love it. You can call me that from now on."

The two laughed happily as they approached, the rest of the fireteam looking around. Montoya spoke with a happy yet almost bellowing tone.

"Ah, our Helljumpers!"

"Yeah, that'll be us."

"Hah. Still quiet as you were on that evac bird, eh Speck? And you must be-"

"You can just read that file, y'know."

Montoya was surprised at her rather indignant tone, but kept his cool and introduced the team.

"A'ight, so this is our gunner, Monika.. Speck's already familiar with her, aren't you pal?"

Monika winked at Speck, earning a cold stare from Art. She returned the stare, both glowering at eachother.

Joseph lifted himself from his seat.

"Hello. Name's Joseph, I'm the CQC guy."

He shook Speck's hand, before sighing.

"I'm a Spartan III, if you weren't aware. Fought alongside some 'jumpers on Reach, we'll see if you best them."

The two regular troopers made their introductions as well, with Maria being more quiet and Rorke fondly remembering the training days he had with Speck.

Once the formalities ended, everyone walked out. Two people lagged behind.

Artemis and Monika.

"So, you think he's yours, redhead? Hah. _Die mistvieh_."

"He is mine. Besides, given your accent I can tell you've had plenty of other sausages in your mout-"

Monika, by far the stronger one, punched her. As she walked toward her floored rival, Artemis swung back up and kicked her hard.

The Spartan growled, barely hurt, and using her full strength swung her at the wall by her leg.

A short brawl ensued, with Artemis being hit in the face several times and Monika receiving a black eye from a kick. However, Art soon realised that her speed was doing precious little, and soon the heavy-set Spartan smashed her hard in the face with one fist.

Artemis laid there, panting and with blood running from her face and nose.

"See? You're nothing, nothing but a maple-sucking _hure!_ Speck is MINE!"

Monika sauntered off, chuckling darkly to herself.

Art, meanwhile, was busy trying to right herself when a hand offered to help her up.

It was Speck.

"Come on, Amelia. Don't cry, please..."

"Hah... You came back?"

"Of course, you're my best friend. Maybe even more than that."

She allowed herself to be lifted off the floor.

"C'mon, Artie, we can go get some food and watch that program you've been dying to see. Plus, we just got a shipment of new flashbangs and I want to go throw one into Rorke's dorm."

Artemis, upon hearing this, smiled and hugged him tightly.

"I-I'd love to. Thanks, Colin.~"

The two walked back to their barracks, her limping along.

Meanwhile, Monika was stood around a corner, having heard everything. She chuckled again.

"That was just round one..."


	5. Chapter 5

Speck was awoken to the sound of boots hitting the floor. He realised he had fallen asleep on the sofa, and was just waking up when-

Wait. What had attached itself to him?

He looked to his right and saw Art rather clumsily draped across him, herself in a deep sleep.

Of course. The two had been sat there for hours just chatting and joking, after the fight had snapped part of her ankle and she'd been in need of a friend.

"Well isn't that adorable? You and her seem to get along _mighty fine_ , Speck."

Montoya was stood there with a grin as wide as he could muster, before he toned it down and spoke more softly.

"Command's spoken to me, we're taking a 3 person team down to some colony. Some ex-Covenant mercenaries were spotted there and need to be taken out discreetly."

"How do I fit into this bloody thing?"

"It's you, me, and Joseph. He put you forward. He'd never say it himself but he sees you as a little brother already, dude. "

Speck smiled, then paused and asked a critical question.

"What about our squadmates? I don't want Monika roughing Artie up again, mate."

Montoya answered, in a calm voice.

"Well, Rorke will be out training with Monika, and 'Artie' will be spending the day here. She'll be fine, I promise."

Speck gently got up before walking over to his gear. Today would be his first mission with Fireteam Scorpio, and he was nervous as hell.

Speck, Joseph and Montoya were all seated aboard a specialised Pelican, one equipped with an experimental active camoflage. They were coming in to land now, dust kicking up off the barren wastes.

"Welcome to the glasslands of Sigma-something 5. I don't remember the name, honestly. Home to one of the biggest resource operations in the entire UNSC once. Now only charred dust remains."

Joseph spoke up, adding something.

"I'd say we're dealing with Skirmishers. And they appear to have Prowlers judging by the tracks."

"Anything else?"

"Hunter prints, captain. But given that purple splotch... I don't think these Hunters are against us. They're with the Swords of Sanghelios most likely."

"We hope."

"Alright. Speck, you're middle, I'm rear guard. Joseph, take point. Silencers on, gentlemen."

Meanwhile, back at the base, Art was chatting with Maria, the two having become surprisingly good friends in a short amount of time.

"So, anyway, what did you need me for, friend?"

"Go to the quartermaster. I need some supplies for something."

"Mind telling me what?"

"It involves Speck, I'll say that much..."

The three man patrol had covered about 2km, and had stopped for some water when a guttural, gurgling roar bellowed out a few yards away over a ledge.

"Hunter?"

"Hunters, Speck. There's always 2."

They peered over the ledge, Speck armed with an M7 silenced SMG, Joseph with an MA37, and Montoya with a SAW. The 2 Spartans both had thrusters as standard, and Speck had an active camoflage module.

The Skirmishers and Hunters were fighting, with one of the Hunters on a mini rampage.

The Skirmishers barely lasted 2 minutes, and the small human fireteam all had a small celebration... before the Hunters fired at them instead.

"Shit! Get down!"

A green explosion blew off the side of their makeshift cover. Montoya simply gave up.

"I don't think there's much we can do now. 2 Hunters and we've no rocket launcher."

"We could improvise, sir."

"Speck's right. We should at least kill one."

Joseph jumped down, Speck running after him.

Joseph was running at the first Hunter, and as it lunged he jumped over and onto it's back. The other Hunter charged and smashed into it's ally's back, sending it to the floor in seconds.

While it was distracted, Speck circled the second one and jammed an incendiary grenade inside the writhing Lekgolo that made the creature. The grenade burst, causing the Hunter to cook from the inside out, and soon it dropped to the floor dead.

The young ODST punched the air in celebration, before he watched the first Hunter rise again. He nimbly dodged a fuel rod shot, but was impacted by an offhand swipe. The swipe was fairly light, thankfully, but was enough to send him sprawling. As he rose, he saw Joseph tear down the ridge, before jumping on the Hunter's back.

The Spartan-III jumped on the Hunter's back, ripping out Lekgolo and slashing with his knife.

It took about 3 seconds before the massive alien had dropped to the floor, blood pouring from its back.

Montoya stumbled down the ridge, and spoke in disbelief.

"Holy shit... Command picked you guys well. Excellent work. Come on, we should get moving before more show up."

Art was busying herself with a cooking book in the mean time, trying to figure out how one made an apple pie. As a young girl she'd been a very energetic soul, and as such had never had any interest in cooking.

She had gotten through the majority of the rather dated recipe with ease, but now she had to actually cook the damn thing.

"Alright Speck, you got your active camo?"

"Yes, sir?"

"Good. Use it and sneak past those Skirmishers and plant the bomb. Once that's done, engage."

Speck activated the cloaking device, light refracting around him.

Soon enough he was slowly creeping past, using the broad side of an old Brute Prowler. The feathered things had no clue he was there, and finally he planted the detpack on the fuel tanks they had for the vehicles.

After getting to cover, he patched back into the comms.

"Detpack is live, boss."

"Blow it."

The explosion threw up dust and flame for 10 yards, Speck unharmed by some miracle but the Prowler having partially caved in and melted slightly.

The remaining Skirmisher crawled along the floor, away from the scene. Speck took an axe from his holster, and in seconds the young ODST had buried it in the Skirmisher's chest, ending its suffering.

"An axe, Speck? Each to their own, I guess."

"Got the job done though, eh sir?"

"Permission to speak, sir?"

"Granted, Joseph."

"I prefer this here knife, sir."

Montoya smirked, saying but one thing.

"You boys and your blades, eh? Well, we should get moving. Evac bird's coming in at 12:00, so we need these Covies wiped out."

"Roger that."


End file.
